


The Walker Wars

by lea_ysaye



Category: The Walking Dead (TV), The Walking Dead - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Original Character Death(s), Post-Canon, World War Z inspired, this'll be a long one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-02
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-26 18:40:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 4,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3860464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lea_ysaye/pseuds/lea_ysaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the walkers are defeated in a world-wide insurrection an international oral history project is started. This is the story of the ASZ survivors.</p><p>I am working off <a href="http://walkingdead.wikia.com/wiki/Television_Show_Timeline">this timeline</a>, as usual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Preface

**Author's Note:**

> This is my homage to Max Brooks' excellent book World War Z. Let's pretend the film never happened. ;)
> 
> I'll expect this to have many parts and to be added to slowly over time. I'll be writing as many of our guys as I can into this story. There's still the Rickyl relationship, and I am starting on that note, but it'll just be one of many themes, hopefully.
> 
> Rating and warnings will change as appropriate. There will be some deaths.

This is the story of what has variously come to be called Walker Wars, Battle of the Geeks or Roamer Insurrection. It is the story of the men and women who fought the battles, and won. It is also the story of those who fought and did not live to give their own account. We remember them through the recollections of friends and family.

This slim volume is but one part of the vast oral history project conducted by brave men and women all over the world. Soon, this will be a global project. We want to ensure that coming generations will get a glimpse of what it was like to live through these days which some call the twilight of humanity.

I am but one of many. The narratives I have collected are merely snapshots of a greater story, one to which we will never have all the pieces, but in which each piece gives access to a unique window onto our darkest days.

C. M., Alexandria Safe Zone (ASZ), May 2016


	2. Rick Grimes, ASZ

We were pretty lucky then, all things considered. Our group had been out there a long time, and when Aaron found us we were pretty much done in. I was skeptical at first, I won’t deny it. But Michonne and the others, they brought me round. And good thing they did. We would all have died, and soon, had we not been given that break.

Things got heavy here, in Alexandria. I will tell you that I wasn’t blameless, far from it. In the end we worked through it, like we’d worked through so much before. But at the time… I thought that was it. I was ready to leave, actually. Give the others a chance at this, leave them be and build a life here, walk off and seek my luck out in the wild. It seemed the only logical option, but that quickly changed. And I’m glad.

We were in a bad place here in the safe zone the day the army reappeared. This group, they called themselves the Wolves, had broken through and we were doing our hardest to fight them off. There were walkers everywhere, people were screaming like mad, it was utter chaos. I was sure again that that was it, the end. I was ready to round the others up, to just get out. But then, there they were.

I can’t remember ever being this happy to see a tank in my life. Actually, that’s not true. There was another time… but never mind that, it was long before the time you asked about.

We were wading knee-deep through blood and guts at the moment when the first shell hit. It ripped a whole in the line of the undead and the living in front of me, and I remember I could suddenly see way out into the forest. The wall had been destroyed, and we still fought all night before we’d killed or rounded up the last of the Wolves. But that was the beginning of the end, that shell from the tank.

When morning dawned we finally managed to catch our breath. I remember walking through the community. There were bodies everywhere, dead and dying all jumbled up. I shot a couple guys who were just about to turn, and then I came upon Daryl. He’d been helping to bring some of the wounded to our ad-hoc medical station, but he looked ready to keel over himself. There was this huge gash on his arm, and he was bleeding heavily.

Daryl’s not got the best sense of self-preservation. You’ll notice when you meet him. _[laughs]_ So I grabbed him and dragged him off to the medics myself. He was pretty weak with blood loss or I wouldn’t have been able to.

I sat him down and rustled up someone who knew what best to do about that wound, and was about to go and see what else needed doing when Daryl held me back. He said, “This military guy’s walking round, asking who’s in charge here. Think you should have a word with him.” So that’s what I did next.


	3. Maggie Greene-Rhee, ASZ

The Wolves attacked when we were still finding our feet in Alexandria. I was working with Deanna, and to be honest, the attack itself, and the arrival of the army, passed me by somewhat. You see, I had just found out I was pregnant and Glenn was freaking out a little. He absolutely forbade me to leave the house when the attack started. He wanted to lock me into Deanna’s basement, but I persuaded him not to, and promised to stay inside.

I broke that promise, of course. Towards the end of that night, when the screams and the noise became too much, I couldn’t stay put any longer. I left the house just when the army first appeared. I didn’t see them then, but I heard this huge bang, and the others told me later that that had been a shell.

I went to the medics’ station. My dad used to be a vet, so I know a little about medical procedures, also from looking after the animals on our farm. There were lots of wounded, but you’d be surprised how few we were able to save that night. Or maybe you wouldn’t, you lived through this yourself… Most injuries were gunshot wounds, and those Wolves, they were well trained for a rag tag band of outlaws. The other common wounds we were confronted with, of course, cannot be treated…

When the whole thing was over and we were told it was safe and that there were soldiers guarding the broken walls I went back home. I didn’t see any soldiers that night myself. Glenn came back late, with some of the others, but I was so tired I’d gone to bed. He woke me up, he just had to talk about it.

We didn’t know too much that first night, other than that the battalion that had come to our aid had been holed up underground near Washington this whole time, and was now on the way to join forces with other similar outfits. They’d come across us almost by accident. We didn’t know just how much that night would change our lives, but I think we all had a feeling that it was the beginning of something big.


	4. Carl Grimes, ASZ

I stayed with my baby sister Judith that night. Well, mostly. She was fussy, I know she could feel something was up. When she finally fell asleep I brought her round to Olivia’s house, our neighbor. Lots of moms with little ones were there, and I knew they’d look after Judith. Then I climbed over the fence. Enid had shown me how. That’s my girlfriend. _[laughs]_ Well, she is now, anyway.

Outside, I actually ran into Enid right away. She didn’t like it much, being cooped up behind the walls. So we snuck round the back, because I wanted to see how many there were. Of the Wolves, I mean. Initially we didn’t know about the soldiers, though Enid and I saw them fairly soon. There were maybe fifty of them, and they were coming at the Wolves from behind. We watched them for most of the night. We were only twelve, remember? _[laughs again]_ Seems such a long time ago now…

Anyway, when the fighting finally died down and they started piling up the dead walkers to burn them we went up to a couple of soldiers building a bonfire, and we talked to them. I told my dad what they’d said right afterwards because the commanders didn’t get through to dad and Deanna until much later.

The two soldiers told us how their battalion had been hiding in underground bunkers specially constructed for a situation like this. They’d been in there about as long as we’d been on the road. They’d come out to forage sometimes but they’d mostly watched it all on computer monitors. Then, a few weeks before they happened upon this place here, in the middle of a fight with the Wolves, they’d had the order to get ready for deployment.

The two we talked with that first day were just foot soldiers, they didn’t know very much. But they did know that there were loads more groups like theirs, hidden in caves and underground silos all over the country. And they had orders to meet up with some of them. That’s where they were going when they found us.


	5. Colonel Abraham Ford, Washington Military Command

I was a soldier before the world went to hell in a handbasket. I was a lot of things, actually… Did you know my wife is pregnant? I still can’t believe it. Right, yes, you want me to tell you what happened after the Wolves attacked.

That night was very hard on the community. We had only been there a few weeks ourselves, there was still a lot of adjusting going on. To tell you the truth, I didn’t think we would have made it through the night without the First Free Battalion. I’m sure Rick will tell you, if he hasn’t done so already, that we were contemplating abandoning the Safe Zone, as it was starting to look like we would not be able to hold it.

I still feel bad, thinking about that. So many more people would have died if we’d left the Alexandrians to their fate. Our group was strong, you see. All of them were… all of them are survivors. The ones that survived…

Right, so. After the fighting was over and we’d rounded up the casualties there was a meeting between the commander of the battalion and our leaders. Their ranks were all messed up, but I seem to remember he was a Captain. They’d had casualties too, not as heavy as the civilians but people died and reanimated in their midst, and the lost people on reconnaissance, too. That’s why junior officers had risen to senior ranks way before their time. The Captain was a good man, though, rest his soul.

I had the privilege of being present at the meeting that took place. We gathered in Deanna’s living room since the Safe Zone then consisted of civilian property only. Deanna was the de facto leader still, but she shared the role with Rick, who’d gotten our group to Alexandria. The Captain told us about their mission… I am sure some of it’s still classified, so you’ll have to talk to some of the other who were present as I am not at liberty to discuss classified information with civilians. No offence.

But suffice to say, in a nutshell: The battalion was converging on a rendezvous spot not far from the ASZ, and they requested to enquire among our ranks for any volunteers to go with them.


	6. Carol Peletier, Los Angeles [satellite phone interview]

Can I first say what a great project I think this is? You are so brave, taking on this huge responsibility and getting everyone’s story recorded. It’ll be so useful for the kids, and grandkids, to really understand what it was like for us. It’s not a nice story, but it’s so important. Kids need to know. They need to understand why the world is this way, and why they can never let their guard down.

Ok, I’ll get right to it. Phone time is still rationed, and we’re lucky Abe… sorry, Colonel Ford, put in a word with Command here so I can speak with you. I’ll tell you what happened after the Wolves attacked, then.

I don’t think Rick was too keen initially to let anyone from our group out of sight, or any of the Alexandrians for that matter. We’d fought so hard, so many times, to make it to safety, and against all odds we’d beaten the Wolves, too. I think Rick was finally ready to really make this new life work, and then the army barges in and suddenly there are options, you know?

Oh it’s not that he didn’t want us to do what we wanted to do. He just wanted everyone to want the same thing: stay together, build up a safe community. He wanted his family to be safe, to get back to normal life, to rest and heal. And some of us wanted that, too, but not everyone. And Rick knew right away that some of us, no, most, would want to fight.

Rick knew he’d have to stay because he thought he couldn’t leave his kids behind with strangers. And if most of us were going to go the people that remained, the Alexandrians, they were really just strangers at that point, and weak, and he felt responsible… He had a fair few fights over the issue, with Carl, and… but I’ll let him tell you that, it’s not my place really.

It was Michonne, Tara, Sasha, Daryl and Morgan who said right away they were going to go with the soldiers. I don’t know exactly when they split up, probably at the rendezvous point the battalion had been heading for. Michonne and Tara went with a unit that was headed for the Eastern Seaboard, and the rest joined an outfit going back to Georgia.

I think they figured that local knowledge might come in useful. The South was in quite a state then, some huge herds were gathering, and thanks to the terrain and the forests in Georgia outlaws were in their element. I believe they were also still hoping to salvage something from the CDC in Atlanta.

They left about a week after the fight with the Wolves. The soldiers had helped us rebuild the walls, and they left us some heavy guns, too. Rick refused the offer of soldiers being stationed in the ASZ, though. They might have been useful for protection, since a lot of our best fighters were going, but I don’t think he entirely trusted it all yet.

Abe and Rosita left soon afterwards to go to the bunkers the battalion had come from. That was the starting point for the new Military Command as it exists today, you know. They took Eugene with them, and I’ve been told he was behind a lot of the technological advances that helped the strategic planning for the final battles.

_What about you? What did you do?_

Me? Well, my place was in Alexandria then. I wasn’t going to give that up. Besides, Rick needed all the support he could get, what with… everyone gone. So I stayed. Helped with the kids, you know.

_But you’ve since found quite a different role. Can you tell us about that?_

I am still not really sure what I’m doing, to be honest. _[laughs]_ I am part of the Security Council, if you can believe it. I’ve traveled quite a bit, supervising the coordination between military and non-military personnel in setting up defense units in all the new settlements around the country.

Life still isn’t very safe, as I am sure you know. There are still stray walkers around that sometimes come out of the mountains or other remote areas and happen upon inhabited towns. And there’s no cure, of course. We’re still all infected, and people need to know how to safely dispatch anyone who dies.

_And you teach kids how to use weapons?_

Yes. It is a sad fact of this life, but it is crucial for our survival. The next generation needs to know how to handle weapons, and I’d rather they did it safely, and with respect for the tool they are handling. Anti-arms sentiments were a nice idea for the pre-walker world, but it doesn’t really work now, don’t you think?


	7. Daryl Dixon, ASZ

S’you want me t’tell ya about the fighting in Georgia, right?

_Yes, and how it came you went back there._

‘m not sure I’m the best one to tell you, but all right. We left the Safe Zone with the soldiers once the walls were back up. Alexandria had these huge metal walls, you see? Deanna’s husband built them. Some’re still standing, round back. So when we knew the others would be safe inside we went.

Rick was not happy, that we left with the soldiers, I mean. But I had’t, y’see?

_Why is that?_

We lost so many. People always died. Out there, in here. The same thing everywhere. And the Captain [of the First Free Battalion, C.M.], he promised they could end it. No more dying, if they could just get enough people t’fight the walkers, get them all.

_So you travelled back to Georgia?_

Firs’, we went with the battalion to where they’d been headed originally. There was this huge camp, in them hills in West Virginia, further west than what we’d travelled coming up. That was the base camp for t’whole East Coast operation. They’d been pulling troops an’ volunteers in from North and South for months. Was jus’ dumb luck we didn’t meet any on our way to Washington.

_Carol said that’s where you split up?_

Yeah. Morgan, Sasha and I, we went with a regiment on to Georgia. We were in the camp for a while first, though. They asked lots of questions, and made us do tests. See if we could shoot, y’know. Well, us, we could. Didn’t really make us do any training, we helped out a little, with some of the other volunteers. Wasn’t bad, there. Though bein’ a soldier, that’s not really for me.

_How come?_

Too many rules. I like t’do my own thing, y’know? Go off on my own when I want to, hunt, that sorta thing. But it made sense, and I stuck with it. Wasn’t too strict anyway, was mostly other civilians.

_And then you headed to Georgia. What was it they wanted you to do there?_

Get the land back under control, I s’pose. Migh’ be they thought we’d be useful since we knew the place. They tol’ us there were more walkers that end’n many other places. Down South was bad. Maybe the things like it warm?

They sent troops everywhere, though, not just us back down there. Michonne and Tara, they went with a unit t’ New York. I think they were still hoping to salvage something from the CDC in Atlanta, too. Didn’ believe us when we told them it was gone. Or maybe they knew something we didn’t. Dunno, never found out.

_You weren’t in the group that went into Atlanta, then?_

_Ok, can you just describe what that was like, going back to Georgia?_

We went with a regiment of 300 soldiers, an’ about 500 civilian volunteers. We mostly walked, jus’ like we had coming up. The vehicles we had went ahead to scout, and scavenged for provisions. We’d pitch camp between them each night. That lot, they were pretty well organized.

I went out t’hunt most days. That was good. Had some more tracker, an’ people knew how t’fish. Much better journey than when we came up.

There were some big herds on the way, and we probably drew more walkers cos there was so many of us. But we made it through them all right.

_And when you got to Georgia?_

They split us up, groups of eighty or so. Sasha and I, we were with the same group again…

_What about Morgan?_

Y’ll have to ask him. I still don’ really know. One morning, jus’ before we crossed into Georgia, he was jus’ gone.


	8. Maggie Greene-Rhee, ASZ

Glenn wanted to go back to Georgia with the others, so, so much. I knew he did, but when he said he’d stick around I was glad. I was real scared, those early days. Having a kid in this? I mean, what were we thinking? Alexandria was better than the road, sure. But it was still cut off from everything, even after the army had come and gone. And our only doctor… well, we didn’t have one.

I know Rick was glad that Glenn stuck around. There was a lot to do after the Wolves attacked, and he was still figuring things how. How to make it work, you know? And without… without the others, I mean, he was kinda in over his head. We all were, us that stayed back. Michonne, Sasha, Daryl, all of them, they were our fighters, they were the reason we were still alive.

And what did we have now? A pregnant woman and weaklings. _[bitter laugh]_ Sure, there were men here, too, and some of them have turned out all right. But what you see now? Alexandria today? It’s still standing because of Rick. Because he was brave enough to make some tough decisions.

Just because we knew there were soldiers out there again, organizing a war, didn’t really change the day to day. There were still thousands of walkers roaming the forest around us. There were gangs, like the Wolves, just waiting for us to let or guard down. Or that’s what it felt like, anyway. People still got killed, food was getting harder to come by, and we felt pretty alone.

I was busy with Deanna those early months. She was a good leader. I know people were very critical of her in the beginning, and had we been out on the road I would have followed someone like Rick in a heartbeat. But for a community like this, and with the prospect of some kind of government reemerging, she was the right kind of woman to run things. And she taught me a lot of things.

_What did Glenn do during those months?_

_[Long pause.]_ He spent a lot of time away from the safe zone. I think he knew he was doing the right thing, and he definitely wanted to be here, with me, but just like Rick, he felt he should’ve been out there, doing more, fighting the big fights. _[Another pause.]_ And sometimes I wish he’d gone with the others.


	9. Father Gabriel Stokes, undisclosed location

To C.M.,

Please accept my apologies for not agreeing to speak with you face to face, but I don’t feel I can be part of this project. What I have seen and witnessed at Alexandria, and with Rick’s group before, is not my story to tell.

I can only tell you this: These people are evil. They have the devil in their heart, and can not be trusted.

However, as a man of God I have to believe in his divine wisdom, and wish his blessing on you and your endeavors.

_For behold, the Lord will come in fire and His chariots like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For the Lord will execute judgment by fire and by His sword on all flesh, and those slain by the Lord will be many._

_Isaiah 66:15-16_

God be with you,

Gabriel Stokes


	10. Maggie Greene-Rhee, ASZ

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the sad chapter, guys!

Do you want me to tell you about Glenn?

_Only if you think you can. I could ask somebody else…_

No! No… I’ll do it. He was my husband, and I want him to be part of this story. I was so sure at the time that if he stayed here, with me, he’d be safe. Or at least safer than out there with the others.

He and Nicholas, they continued with the supply runs. There were still a lot of us to feed every day, and with the number of young, strong men and women lower than before that was quickly becoming an issue. I have to say, everyone learned a lot of new skills that first winter, and we became a proper community. Many of the Alexandrians hadn’t really experienced the horrors outside their walls first hand before our group got here, but that quickly changed. And most of them turned out to be wonderful people…

[Pause] Sorry, it’s hard, still…

_That’s ok. Shall we take a break, maybe?_

No, let’s get it done. I promised Bethy I would do it…

_Bethy is your daughter?_

Yes. And it’s for her, really, and for Judith, and the other kids, that I think we should be doing this project. Never let them be forgotten, the men and women who fought and gave their lives to restore the world to a place worth living in.

Right… Something weird had happened between Glenn and Nicholas once already before the night Glenn died. They’d come back all bloody and hurt, the morning after Rick killed Pete and Morgan arrived. I’m sure one of the others can tell you what happened that night, if that’s ok?

_Sure. Go on._

So when they came back Glenn had a gunshot wound on his shoulder, but he wouldn’t tell me what had happened. I don’t think he told anyone.

We don’t know exactly what happened the night he died, either. They weren’t supposed to be out overnight, and I was getting real worried. Then, around midnight, we heard their van outside the walls. It was just Nicholas. He said they got overrun and he just about made it out. That’s of course completely possible, that’s what runs were like then, you know?

The thing is, he’d told lies before. When they came back from the run where Aiden [Deanna Monroe’s son, C.M.] and Noah died, Nicholas lied about his involvement. He told Deanna that he’d been the one who tried to bring Aiden’s body back. She told me later, after Glenn got killed. Also, Nicholas was the reason Noah never made it home that day. And I am convinced that he is to blame for Glenn’s death, too.

_Where is he now, Nicholas?_

No idea. He stole away the day after he came back without Glenn. Took the van, too. I hope he’s still roaming out there somewhere, or maybe stuck in s swamp, rotting away slowly…

I’ve got this letter I wanted to show you. Maybe you can print it in your book, too? It’s from Glenn, he wrote it when he’d just found out I was pregnant. It was hidden in the house, he never showed it to me before his death…

_Are you sure?_

Yes. I think he’d’ve liked having something of his published.


	11. Glenn Rhee [deceased]

Hey little one,

I still can't believe it, your mom just told me. I'm in shock. Hopefully when you read this I'll have gotten used to being a dad...

The truth is, of course, I am pretty sure I won't be around when you read this letter. That's the world we're living in now, and that's why I'm writing the letter in the first place. But maybe, by the time you're old enough to read it'll have sorted itself out again, this world of ours.

Anyway, whatever happens, I wanted to make sure that you heard from me at least once. You are the best thing that could have happened, really. Yes, this might be a crazy time to want to have kids, but ever since I met your mom I knew I wanted her to be the mother of my children. And the reason we ever met in the first place was that the world ended. How's that for weird.

I hope your mom will tell you about me sometimes, when you are old enough to understand it. And ask her lots of questions. It's important to ask questions, so you can understand what happened to us. I wish your childhood could have been like mine, with lots of kids and outings to the park and roaming in the streets. You'll probably spend a lot of time behind walls, and I can't promise that you won't be scared a lot, too.

But you've got the best family in the world around you. They'll keep you safe, and that gives me some peace.

Be a good child and listen to your mom, and to Rick and the others. But also, try and have as much fun as you can. Life is too short to be serious all the time.

Love

Dad


End file.
